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Zenia
Zenia '''(Zenian: ''Zēnya''' or 'Árbās), legally the '''Republic of Zenia (Edirāna ne Zenya) is a country on the Southern Continent, located in the Harb River basin and the Zenian Plateau. With a population of 67,000,000 and an area of 470,000 square miles, Zenia is the world's eighth-most populous country and the most populous landlocked country in the world. Its capital and cultural, economic, and financial center is Harbelon, which is also arguably the largest city in the world with an urban population of over 13,000,000. The fertile Harb River valley was among the earliest cradles of civilization, and Zenian culture and society go back thousands of years to the founding of early city-states along the river and the rise of Sukayacęp, which was renamed Harbelon ("city of the Harbas," their endonym at the time). Known in antiquity as among the great and rich civilizations of the world, the Harbelonian hegemony was conquered by the Anglean Emperor Samuel in 987, and the region became an Anglean province. Resisting complete Anglicization, Zenia (as the province was known - at the time an exonym) merged Anglean and local culture, retaining it after the fall of Anglea and into the era of the Crown of Harbelon, which ended with Orkhazar's declaration of the Zenian Empire. The modern Zenian state dates back to the Revolution of 1922, when the empire was overthrown with a presidential republic styled after Sednyana or Ziunia. Zenia is often considered a middle-power, and has the largest economy of the central Southern Continent. Despite this, Zenia continues to suffer from poverty, particularly in rural region, and has a relatively low human development index. Its economy is largely based in agriculture and industry, although it has a growing service sector. Harbelon is often considered an alpha global city, and has been noted as an unusual example of a primate city, far larger than it should be considering the national population; Zenia's second-largest city, Ermehal, is barely a twentieth the size of Harbelon, with a population of 700,000. Name The name Zenia dates back to Anglea, when Xenia ''or ''Zenia ''was an exonym for the wealthy kingdom on the interior of the Southern Continent, coming from the Rhamidic root "xen-" meaning "foreign" or "unknown." At the time, the local name for the people was "Hárbás" or "Árbās," which the name for the Harb River and the city of Harbelon come from. When the Angleans conquered the region, "Zenia" was entirely an exonym; however, its official usage for over two hundred years introduced it into the local lexicon, and "Zenia" (later Zēnya) came to be used side-by-side with Árbās. While the Crown of Harbelon primarily used the term "Árbās," Orkhazar attempted to revive an idea of Anglicism by invoking the name "Zēnya" in his imperial title, and the name has stuck as the country's official name into the present, even though the majority of the population refer to the region as Árbās. Geography Zenia is landlocked, and bordered to the north by Tabora, east by Ziunia, west by the Republic of Ukar and south by the Kingdom of Ukar and Tara. The northern border is formed by the Kurzegam Mountains and the Tabor Hills, below which extends the massive Zenian plateau, a large, flat highland region with interspersed drylands and cloud forests. South of the plateau is the Harb River basin, a massive fertile plain that has been heavily farmed for millenia and contains the majority of the country's population. This basin twists north as the river runs from its source in the West at Lake Ukar, and eventually empties into the Inner Ocean just north of the border with Tabora, near Taboropolis. '''Provinces' * Harbelon is nominally a province-level metropolis and official capital region; however, the city government functions as a province, and it is a first-level administrative division Largest municipalities: The list of largest municipalities in Zenia includes several large suburbs of Harbelon; these communities, which are not provincial capitals or centers of a metropolitan area, are not bolded. History Pre-Anglean The Harb River valley is believed to have been a cradle of civilization, and the ancient Árbā peoples developed agriculture independently around 2000 BCE, and begin to organize themselves into city-states. The oldest city is believed to be Acepriyarkar, north of Harbelon, where artifacts date back to 1880 BCE; from here, a number of city-states developed, and there is evidence of ancient wars between them. The Epic of Arūd tells the story of the rise of a young city-state of Sukayaçep around 1000 BCE, which fought against a powerful alliance led by Erfat in the Wars of Arūd (c. 950-1010 BCE), from which Sukayaçep emerged on top. During this period, the people spoke an ancient Árbā language, barely distinguishable today as being Zenian, and are notable for their construction of large terraced pyramids as sights of worship for their wide pantheon of gods, most notably the rain god Yuhuruok ''and the sun god ''Açagatil. The period of warring city-states continued until 420 BCE, when Sukayaçep, by this point the largest and most powerful of the city-states, began consolidating its power under the rule of Memencohalçet Varathurās. A number of city-states, including Erfat, rebelled against what they perceived as Sukayaçep establishing complete hegemony and breaking up the way of split power (numinthāt) among cities; Memencohalçet had none of this and crushed the city-states, burning Erfat to the ground. In 417 BCE - or year one of the traditional Zenian calendar - Memencohalçet proclaimed the end of an era of numinthāt, and of the beginning of saripāt, ''or the domination of a single city. No longer one among many city-states, he renamed his city Harbelon (or ''Árbālan), meaning the "capital of the Árbās, and ushered in an age of domination under Harbelon. The following era was characterized by outward rule from Harbelon, which established not a centralized empire but a series of complicated patron-client relationships with the surrounding cities. It grew large and powerful, far more so than any of the surrounding cities, and crushed any that tried to rebel against the mandate of Harbelon, ruled now by a divine king whose will was considered infallible. The size of Harbelonian dominion waxed and waned, and the farther one went from the city, generally the less that the states payed homage to Harbelon. The tribes and kingdoms of the valley of Ukar, for example, at many times paid nominal tutelage to the Harbelonians but were under little influence; occasionally, when one would refuse to pay, the king of Harbelon would send troops to support another to overthrow them, who would then pay him. The situation was relatively similar with the Ziun and Tabor tribes to the north - though Harbelon directly controlled the city of Tipris by the mouth of the Harb River - and with some of the more "civilized" tribes to the south. In general, Harbelonian influence did not extend past the Toranese or Feran mountains, although there was known to be some contact between the Kings of Harbelon and various Incean leaders. Anglean Conquest This 1400-year-long period of saripāt ''ended in 987. At this point, Harbelon was the largest city in the world next to Boskator, with a population of excess of 800,000, and Anglean traders returning from Harbelon in the eighth and ninth centuries had reported on a city "drowning in gold" with "wealth unimaginable" and a "bizarre civilization to their pagan practices, without a hint of the savagery of the surrounding tribes." While the empire had long profited off of trade from Harbelon, it soon looked to dominate it politically. While Harbelon even granted the Angleans power over much of northern Ziunia in 920, it staunchly opposed further Anglean encroachment. The first Anglo-Harbelonian War (944-949) resulted in a relative stalemate, with the Angleans failing to force the Harbelonians to bend tribute. A second war (960-962) was slightly more successful, but still only gave the Angleans some coastal regions, as they could not win a full victory. Finally, in 985, the Emperor Samuel, with the help of Ukari and Beryllian allies, staunchly defeated the Harbelonians at Tripan, and marched on Harbelon. The siege of Harbelon began in 986 and lasted nearly a year, counting the most casualties of any Anglean war to date, but on May 15, 987, Harbelonian king Hümülcar Yaris surrendered. The Angleans took the city, and - unusually for them and indicating their level of respect for the civilization - appointed a native Zenian aristocrat, Ghafçar Mulwayis, Duke of Harbelon, under the agreement that he would take on an Anglean name (Stephen) and pledge complete allegiance to Anglea, sealing it with a marriage to Samuel's eldest daughter Arianne. Emperor Samuel immediately set about restructuring his vast empire via imposition of Imperial Law, which made several drastic changes to Anglean society. First, it allowed for the appointment of a governor by Anglea to rule in Harbelon and effectively stripped Ghafçar Mulwayis of all but ceremonial power. More importantly, it abolished chattel slavery, which formed a backbone of much of urban life in Harbelon; while many rural regions could transform their local institutions of forced bondage into serfdom, the vast enslaved population of Harbelon were to be gradually freed over the next twenty years and made Anglean freemen. Massive resistance within the city, and pressure from Mulwayis, allowed this date to be extended to fifty years, and the task fell upon Samuel's successor, Seventum, who ordered all slaves free immediately in 1027. When Ghafçar Mulwayis protested, Seventum had him arrested and appointed an Anglean Duke of Harbelon, Edwin Manomax, which immediately led to outright rebellion. A series of wars and rebellions were partially put down the Anglean government but nonetheless undermined Anglean rule in the city and lead to a near constantly military occupation. In 1050, Emperor Peter issued the edict of Harbelon, which finally ended the war in Zenia by allowing the province special privileges. Among them, Natyin Mulwayis, Ghafçar and Arianne's son, was allowed to return with an elevated title of Prince of Zenia, and a number of aspects of Imperial Law were loosened in Zenia. Notably, while chattel slavery remained nominally banned, former slaves were given a special status - ''zurmur - that in all but name allowed them to remain enslaved through a complicated system of forced bondage. Government and Politics Zenia has a semi-presidential political system, with a president who serves as head of state and a parliament headed by a Prime Minister who serves as head of government. The current largest party, which has an absolute majority in parliament, is Natyás Parsük amd Respolik ul Faghur ''(NPRK), which, despite vast ideological differences amongst its members, is unified by a sense of nationalist and pan-Southern opposition to the globalist elites of its major opposition party, the economically liberalist and socially moderate ''Parsük Respolik Karzhar ''(PRK), who controlled parliament for the vast majority of Zenia's republican years until 2012, when the NPRK swept the country. The current Prime Minister is Hücük Farsan, and the president is Matyás Karbin, both of the NPRK. The NPRK has largely achieved its success through association with (and subsequent purging of) Zenia's chief socialist party, the ''Parsük Sózlim pam-Zenya (PSZ), whose pan-Southern and anti-liberal rhetoric allowed it to sometimes side with the NPRK over the dominant PRK, despite other large ideological differences. Since coming to power, the NPRK has been driving many PSZ members associated with the Maztlánaria and who speak out against the government's policies, leading to the formation of a parallel socialist party, the ''Tomo Sózlimi Sakhar ''(TSS), who have been declared a terrorist organization by the ruling NPRK and largely driven from government, in many cases being arrested.